Alla is today in her city of Odessa to visit children who have fled from Mariupol and Kherson. She brought candy and toys for them. It is one of the many things Alla has been doing since the outbreak of the war.
High heels
But she is above all a ‘fixer’. That is someone who helps international journalists in their work. She is fluent in Russian, Turkish and English so can help with translation. She can also make contacts for journalists and take them to different places. Remarkably enough, she has been doing that in high heels for a hundred days.
“I often go to the front line in Mikolayiv,” Alla tells over the phone. “Even then I wear high heels and preferably dresses that are as colorful as possible. I notice that it makes people happy. They need a little light in these dark times. It feels like my responsibility to keep wearing these clothes.”
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Before the war, Alla worked as a manager in the import business and also gave private English lessons to young people. She also sometimes worked as an interpreter. That work all stopped, but with her language skills and organizational skills, she found a new job: fixer.
‘Son knows: siren is hiding’
She worked hard while her mother took care of her children at home. Not much has changed for them because of the war, says Alla. “They follow distance education, but they were already used to that because of corona.”
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It is now holiday in Ukraine and her daughter (11) and son (4) have a lot of free time. “We try to let them live as normal as possible. My daughter is old enough to understand what is happening. I tell her everything.”
It’s different for her son. But: “He understands what the air raid siren means. When the sirens go off, he knows we have to go down the hall.” Since they live on the eighth floor, the bomb shelter is too far away.
Alla hopes that the war will be over soon, but has enough energy to last quite a while. “I’ve never gotten so much satisfaction from my work.”
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Timo: from photographer to commander
Timo is commander of a small military unit. He prefers not to say which city he is in now for security reasons. Now that the Russians have withdrawn from large parts of the country, his unit is helping the understaffed police keep the streets safe. They also track down Russian spies.
Commander Timo had no military experience when the war started. He was a photographer. He says he was sleeping peacefully when he was awakened by explosions. “I called friends who told me that Kiev was being bombed.”
‘Very scary’
Timo brought his girlfriend and father to safety, but did not flee himself. “The choice to fight was an easy one. Explaining to my father and girlfriend that I wasn’t going was much harder.”
Timo reported to the nearest town hall. He immediately started working as a soldier. After only two weeks he was promoted to commander of a unit consisting of twenty men. Timo tells about the chaos in that period.
“We had to defend military depots, but we didn’t even have any protective vests or helmets. Just some rifles and grenades. That period was really scary. When you hear an explosion, you don’t know what to do. You just freeze.”
‘War got used to’
And that is exactly what a hundred days of war changes. “Hearing bullets flying, feeling explosions… You get used to it. Now I’m not afraid anymore. Just that someone from my unit or friends will die.”
He hopes that the war will not escalate again, because then he will have to go back to the front. What does he hope? “May the skies become peaceful again. That Ukraine wins. And that I get a good job to take care of my family.”
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